<<

International Human Rights Network of and Scholarly Societies TENTH BIENNIAL MEETING May 23-26, 2012

Symposium AND HUMAN RIGHTS: A CRUCIAL ALLIANCE

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Center for Academic Activities For further information contact the Network secretariat: Conference Room I International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies c/o Committee on Human Rights The National Academies Hosted by the 500 Fifth Street, N.W. 128 Academia Road, Section 2 Washington, D.C. 20001 Nankang, Taipei 115, tel: 202-334-3043 * fax: 202-334-2225 * [email protected] www.nationalacademies.org/hrnetwork n the occasion of its tenth biennial meeting, the members of the Executive Committee of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies acknowledge with gratitude the financial support provided by the Australian of Science, the French Academy of , the German National OLeopoldina (with support from the German Federal Foreign Office), the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences (USA), the National Academy of Engineering (USA), and the Institute of (USA) for travel to the meeting for partici- pants from national academies in developing countries.

The Executive Committee particularly thanks the Academia Sinica, its generous members, and its hard-working staff for hosting this event and for also supporting the travel of four participants. The committee’s members are appreciative of both the moral and financial support.

1 2 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK OF ACADEMIES AND SCHOLARLY SOCIETIES The Network aims to put into practice the profes- sional duty of scientists and scholars to assist those colleagues whose human rights have been—or are threatened to be—infringed and to promote and protect the independence of academies and scholarly societies worldwide.

Approved unanimously at the May 11, 2001, fifth biennial meeting of the Inter- national Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies, held at the French Academy of Sciences in Paris.

Network Mission Statement

he International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies, created in 1993, consists of national academies and schol- arly societies around the world that work together to address serious science and human rights issues of mutual concern. The primary objective of the Network and the motivating factor in its creation is to use the influence and prestige of its members, working in a collaborative manner, to Tactively defend the rights of professional colleagues—scientists, medical profession- als, engineers, and scholars—who are unjustly imprisoned or persecuted for nonvio- lently expressing their opinions. The Network’s appeals are based on the standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Network members subscribe to the belief that, because their academies and scholarly societies are held in high esteem and their dignity, integrity, and objectivity are widely recognized, their interventions can be an effective and influential tool in advancing respect for human rights. The Network strives to provide its member academies with

3 protection and moral support when their independence is threatened, their mem- bers or colleagues are subjected to repression, or their scholarly work is undermined for political reasons. Through the exchange of human-rights-related ideas, informa- tion, and experiences, the Network encourages cooperation and communication among academies and advances understanding of human rights issues that relate to science, technology, and health. It opposes, unequivocally, boycotts of academics and academic institutions.

The Network supports human rights consciousness raising, education, and insti- tutional commitment to human rights work among counterpart academies and scholarly societies worldwide. More than a dozen member academies now work collaboratively in submitting cases of unjustly imprisoned colleagues to UNESCO’s Committee on Conventions and Recommendations. The Network also sends observ- ers to the trials of colleagues, such as those of Alexandr Nikitin in , Saad Eddin Ibrahim in Egypt, and to visit unjustly imprisoned colleagues, such as Binayak Sen, M.D., in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, .

The Network is administered by an Executive Committee. The founding members were François Jacob (), Pieter van Dijk (), Max Perutz (), and Torsten Wiesel ( of America). The current Executive Committee members are Arjuna Aluwihare (), Dorairajan Balasubramanian (India), Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (France), Abdallah S. Daar (/Oman), Felton Earls (United States of America), Belita Koiller (), Pedro León Azofeifa (Costa Rica), Ida Nicolaisen (), John Polanyi (Canada), and Alenka Šelih (). The Committee on Human Rights of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C., serves as secretariat for the Network. Carol Corillon directs the committee and is Executive Director of the Network.

Although the Network’s Executive Committee occasionally makes public statements about particularly grave situations of relevance to the Network’s charge and encour- ages academies that are Network members to do the same, all member institutions of the Network have full autonomy and act at their own discretion. They are strongly encouraged to create human rights committees and to urge their academies and their members to intervene on cases and issues brought to their attention by the Network secretariat through regular “Action Alerts” sent by e-mail and posted on a

4 private Network website. Members are also encouraged to refer potentially relevant cases and human rights issues to the Network secretariat for investigation and possible action and to inform the secretariat of particular situations that Network members should be made aware of or in which its Executive Committee may want to intervene in a formal manner. It is possible that, as relations among members of the Network are strengthened and mutual concerns are more widely identified, the Network will undertake other actions as a whole.

Every two years a different member academy hosts a symposium and workshop for the Network. Hosts to date have been the U.S. National Academies (1993), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1995), the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in (1997), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, Letters, and Antiquities (1999), the French Academy of Sciences (2001), the Council of Swiss Scientific Academies (2003), The Royal Society of the United Kingdom (2005), the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka (2007), and the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco (2009)

The Network receives financial support for its biennial meetings from its member academies, as well as grants from private foundations and gifts from individual donors. It needs and will gratefully accept donations from private foundations, private donors, and member academies to support the operations of its secretariat.

Academia Sinica is the most preeminent academic institution in Taiwan. It was founded in 1928 to promote scholarly in the country and to undertake academic research in the sciences and . In recent years, under the leadership of former president Yuan T. Lee and incum- bent president Chi-Huey Wong, Academia Sinica has been transformed into a modern research institution. Many of the 24 research institutes and 7 research centers are now headed by world-class scholars and staffed by highly trained, motivated, and creative young researchers. Major strides have also been made toward raising the standards of academic research, and Academia Sinica is presently positioning itself to move its research activities to the international level. Aside from placing greater emphasis on open- ing up new areas of intellectual endeavors, Academia Sinica is also taking a leading role in launching new initiatives in applied areas to meet a broad spectrum of societal needs in Taiwan.

5 Program

9h00 Welcome Chien-Jen Chen 9h05 Science, Human Rights, and the Purpose of Our Network Ida Nicolaisen 9h20 Symposium Overview Felton Earls, M.D. 9h30 OPENING ADDRESS: Science and Human Rights in South-East Asia – an Overview Vitit Muntarbhorn 10h00 Discussion 10h15 Science, Technology, and Global Internet Access Ovid Tzeng: Freedom of expression; tools of repression Chao-Han Liu: Education and collaboration 10h30 Discussion

10h45 Break

11h15 KEYNOTE ADDRESS: The Grandest Challenge: Taking Life-Saving Science from Lab to Village Abdallah S. Daar, M.D. 11h45 Discussion 12h00 Unjustly Imprisoned Scientific Colleagues – Moderator, Felton Earls, M.D. Felton Earls: Why scientists have an advantage and an obligation to help Carol Corillon: Where are the prisoners? Why are they threatened and abused? Pedro León Azofeifa: Examples of recent successes 12h30 Discussion 12h45 lunch 6 14h00 MAX PERUTZ MEMORIAL LECTURE Introduction by Claude Cohen-Tannoudji Natural Scientists Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Erling Norrby 14h45 Discussion 15h00 Human Rights and Scientific Responsibility Felton Earls, M.D.: Toward a global medical oath 15h15 Science and Scientists in – an Overview Asli Tolun 15h30 Discussion

15h45 Break

16h00 Science and Indigenous People – Moderator: Pedro León Azofeifa Ida Nicolaisen: The human rights situation among indigenous peoples in Asia and the responsibility of academia Dorairajan Balasubramanian: The situation of indigenous people in India Shu-min Huang: Contemporary adaptation among Taiwanese Austronesian peoples Paul Spoonley: Science and cultural safety: developing a partnership with Maori in New Zealand 17h00 Discussion 17h15 Criminalizing Medical Neutrality – Moderator: Arjuna Aluwihare Nabeel Tammam, M.D.: Prosecuting health professionals in Bahrain Hazam Hallak: Targeting of health professionals in Syria 17h45 Discussion 18h00 Adjournment

7 Speakers’ Bios Bios of speakers who are members of the Network’s Executive Committee can be found on the last two pages of this program.

Chien-Jen Chen Professor Chien-Jen Chen is a vice president and distinguished research fellow at the Academia Sinica and a professor at National Taiwan University. He is the director of the Graduate Institute of , director of the Graduate Institute of Epide- miology, and dean of the College of Public Health at the National Taiwan University. He has also served in several government positions, including director general of the Division of Life Sciences, deputy minister and minister of the National Science Council, and minister of the Department of Health. Professor Chen has dedicated himself to epidemiological research on chronic arsenic poisoning and virus-induced cancers. He is widely published and his many books, chapters, and articles are cited frequently. Professor Chen’s many awards include the Presidential Science Prize, the most prestigious science award in Taiwan. He was elected academician of the Aca- demia Sinica, fellow of the American College of Epidemiology, member of the Acad- emy of Sciences for the Developing World, and honorary member of the Mongolian Academy of Science. He was also selected for the Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques of the French Ministry of Education.

Carol Corillon, Executive Director Since the early 1980s Carol Corillon has been director of the Committee on Human Rights (CHR) of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS). She is also the execu- tive director of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (IHRN), which she helped create in 1993. Carol Corillon has led human rights missions to many countries, including Chile, Somalia, and India. On behalf of IHRN, she also works with UNESCO to resolve private cases and, for several years, she worked with Israelis and Palestinians to promote scientific cooperation. Ms. Corillon was a free-lance journalist, working for BBC, Reuters, the Economist, and other publications, in , Tunisia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has written, edited, or contributed to many reports and journals on human rights issues and worked with committees of the International Council for Science (ICSU) since 1994. Her focus as a member of ICSU’s Committee on Freedom and Respon- sibility in Science is alleviating repression of scientists, helping resolve visa denials, addressing misuse of science, and raising consciousness among ICSU members about freedom and its importance to science and scientists.

8 Hazem Hallak Hazem Hallak is a Syrian-American medical researcher working in the Philadelphia area. He was born in Syria and immigrated to the United States in 1984. Since arriv- ing in the United States, Dr. Hallak has been active in cancer research and education. He has lectured extensively and published widely in prominent scientific journals. He has dedicated his life to improving the lives of others. Dr. Hallak’s involvement as a physicians’ human rights advocate began in the spring of 2011, after members of the ruling Syrian regime tortured, mutilated and killed his younger brother, Sakher Hallak, a 43-year-old, secular physician who ran an eating disorder clinic in Aleppo, Syria. In honor of his brother, Dr. Hallak is working with human rights organizations to free physicians who have been detained in Syrian prisons. He continues to seek support for the right of Syrian doctors to help the injured in the ongoing conflict.

Shu-min Huang Shu-Min Huang is a distinguished research fellow and director of the Institute of Ethnology at Academia Sinica. He was a professor of anthropology at Iowa State University from 1975-2005. He received his bachelor’s degree from National Taiwan University and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Dr. Huang has been a visiting professor at the National Tsing Hua Uni- versity in Taiwan and at Xiamen University, and he was the assistant director of international grants at Iowa State from 1988-1991. Dr. Huang’s primary research interests are comparative studies of change and development in rural societies in Greater . He has researched such subjects as land reform and economic de- velopment; changing beliefs of and practices in diet, nutrition, and healthcare; and environment, indigenous knowledge, and sustainability in agriculture. He is the author of three monographs, Agricultural Degradation: Changing Community Systems in Rural Taiwan, The Spiral Road: Change in a Chinese Village Through the Eyes of a Commu- nist Party Leader, and Reproducing Chinese Culture in Diaspora: Sustainable Agriculture and Petrified Culture in Northern .

Chao-Han Liu Chao-Han Liu is a distinguished scholar at Academia Sinica and the KT Li distin- guished chair professor at the National Central University in Taiwan. He served as vice president of Academia Sinica from 2006 to 2011 after serving as president of the National Central University for 12 years and as chancellor of the University Sys- tem of Taiwan for 4 years. He started his academic career at the University of Illinois

9 at Urbana-Champaign in 1965 where he taught electrical engineering for 25 years before returning to Taiwan in 1990. He is a radio engineer/scientist and an interna- tional leader in solar terrestrial physics and global change research. From 1981 to 1999 he played important leadership roles in the Scientific Committee on Solar Ter- restrial Physics (SCOSTEP) of the International Council for Science (ICSU), first as its scientific secretary and later as the president. Since the mid-1990s, he has led a group of scientists with different disciplinary backgrounds to carry out global change and sustainability research in Taiwan and established Taiwan as a regional leader in this field internationally. Liu is an academician of Academia Sinica; a member of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS); and a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

Vitit Muntarbhorn Vitit Muntarbhorn is a professor of law at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand; he is a graduate of Oxford University and the Free University of Brus- sels. He is cochair of the Civil Society Working Group for an ASEAN human rights mechanism, a member of the International Labour Organization’s Committee of Experts on Conventions and Recommendations, and in 2011 he served as chair- man of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the . In 2004 Professor Muntarbhorn was awarded the UNESCO Human Rights Education Prize; in the same year he was nominated to be UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in , a position he held until 2010. From 1990 to 1994, Pro- fessor Muntarbhorn served as the UN special rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. He has also served as a consultant to the UN high commissioner for human rights, the UN high commissioner for refu- gees, the Food and Agricultural Organization, UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO, and the United Nations University.

Erling Norrby Erling Norrby has an M.D. and Ph.D. from the Karolinska Institute’s School of Med- icine, Stockholm. He was professor of virology and chairman at the Institute for 25 years. During that time he also served as dean of the Faculty of Medicine for 6 years and was deeply involved in the work that led to Nobel prizes in physiology or medi- cine for 20 years. After leaving the Institute he became permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, a position he held for six years. During this time he had overriding responsibility for the Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry and was a member of the Board of the Nobel Foundation. Presently he is at the Center

10 for the History of Sciences at the Academy and in 2010 he published the book Nobel Prizes and Life Sciences. In addition he is currently vice-chairman of the Board of the J. Craig Venter Institute. He also has one of the leading functions at the Royal Swedish Court as Lord Chamberlain in Waiting.

Paul Spoonley Paul Spoonley is the research director of the College of Humanities and Social Sci- ences at Massey University, New Zealand. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and the winner of the Royal Society’s Science and Technology Medal (2009) for leadership for “an inclusive, just and non-discriminatory . . . multicultural New Zealand.” He heads the Integration of Immigrants Programme and was also the lead applicant on a project to support the development of research, espe- cially for early and mid-career researchers. He is the author or editor of 26 books. Most recently he wrote a biography of a Maori academic and activist (Mata Toa: The Life and Times of Ranginui Walker), co-edited a book on immigration and social cohe- sion, and co-authored a book, Welcome to Our World: The Attitudes of New Zealanders to Immigrants and Immigration. He is a member of the International Steering Committee of Metropolis, a former board member of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, and in 2011 he was awarded the Sociological Association of Aotearoa Award for “exceptional service to New Zealand sociology.” In 2010, he won a Ful- bright Senior Scholar Award and spent a semester at the University of California at Berkeley conducting research on second generation Latino identities.

Nabeel Tammam, M.D. Nabeel Tammam is a consultant surgeon in ear, nose, and throat (ENT) who graduated from Ain Shams University in 1985. He worked at Salmanyia Medical Complex for 25 years, for 13 of those as a consultant. He was named chair of Salmaniya Medical Complex’s ENT Department in January of 2011, but resigned later that year when the military occupied the Complex. Dr. Tammam is active on committees in both the medical and nonmedical fields. In 2000 Dr. Tammam initiated the Voice Clinic at Salmaniya Medical Complex, which deals with patients who suffer from dysphonia. He was a member of the Airway Team at Salmaniya Medical Complex, a volunteer with the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes program, and he treated wounded Palestinians as a founder of the Gaza Team in 2009. In 2010, Dr. Tammam founded the Bahraini Lymphoma Support Group after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In February and March of 2011, Dr. Tammam was a member of the Bahraini medics during the uprising in Bahrain.

11 Aslihan Tolun Aslihan Tolun is a professor of genetics in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Bog˘aziçi University, Istanbul. She chaired the department from 1996 to 2002. She earned a B.S. in physics at Robert College, an M.S. in biophysics at Penn State University (USA), and a Ph.D. in scientific microbiology at Uppsala University (). She was a post doctoral fellow from 1972 to 1982 at the University of California, San Diego. Professor Tolun was a member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences, where she served as a council member and contributed to the Academy’s activities on academic ethics. She has worked to initiate the Turkish national program of L’Oréal at the Turkish Academy of Sciences “For Women in Sci- ence.” From 2003 to 2006 Professor Tolun was chair of the Bog˘aziçi University Committee on Research with Human Participants. In 1999 she received the Bog˘aziçi University Senior Researcher Award.

Ovid Tzeng Ovid Tzeng is an academician and distinguished research fellow at Academia Sinica and the University System of Taiwan chair professor of neuroscience at the National Yang-Ming University. He received his Ph.D. in 1973 from Pennsylvania State University. His fields of professional interest are cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, neuropsychology, and neurolinguistics. In 2011 Professor Tzeng was named minister for the Taiwanese Council of Cultural Affairs; prior to that he served as minister without portfolio beginning in 2008 and as minister of education from 2000 to 2002. From 2006 to 2008, Professor Tzeng was chancellor of the University System of Taiwan, and in 2002-2006 he was the vice president of Academia Sinica. He has served on the Committee on Freedom and Responsibility in the Conduct of Science of the International Council for Science since 2006 and is a panel member of the European Research Council. He is also a fellow member of the Academy of Science for the Developing World. Professor Tzeng’s many awards include the Service Award from the Chinese Institute of Engineers (2002), the 7th Outstanding Achievement Award from Fei Tao Fei Honor Society (2003), the Golden Bell Award for his radio pro- gram on science education (2011), and the 1st Class Professional Education-Culture Medal (2012) by the Ministry of Education.

12 Executive Committee Bios INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK OF ACADEMIES AND SCHOLARLY SOCIETIES

Arjuna Aluwihare, Sri Lanka Arjuna Aluwihare is emeritus professor of surgery at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. He was vice chancellor of the University from 1988 to 1989 and chairman of the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka from 1989 to 1993. He is a past president of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka. Dr. Aluwihare was a mem- ber of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka from 1997 to 2000. He has been a member of South-East Asia Region (SEAR) and the Global Advisory Committee of Health Research of the World Health Organization. He is a member of the Board of Directors of SL2College.

Dorairajan Balasubramanian, India Dorairajan Balasubramanian is a biological scientist and currently Director of Research at the LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India. In addition, he is the secretary general of the Academy of Sciences of the Developing World (TWAS), Trieste, Italy, and the immediate past president of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, India. He is fellow of all three science academies of India, of the Indian Academy of Social Sciences, the German Academy of Sciences, TWAS, Mauritian Academy of Sciences & Technology, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is a member of UNESCO’s International Basic Sciences Panel. A winner of UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science, he writes a fortnightly column on science in the national English language newspaper of India, “The Hindu,” and is engaged in the area of public understanding of science.

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, France Claude Cohen-Tannoudji is a research scientist in the Department of Physics of the École normale supérieure in Paris. In 1973 he became professor of atomic and molecular physics at the Collège de France. Professor Cohen-Tannoudji is a member of the French Academy of Sciences and chairman of its Committee for the Defense of Scientists. He is a member of the International Scientific Council of the Israeli- Palestinian Science Organization. In 1997 Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Steven Chu, and William D. Phillips were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics “for their development of techniques that use laser light to cool atoms to extremely low temperatures.”

13 Abdallah S. Daar, Oman/Canada Professor Abdallah S. Daar is professor of public health sciences and of surgery at the University of Toronto. He is also senior scientist and director of the Program on Ethics and Commercialization at McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health and director of Ethics and Policy at the University of Toronto’s McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine. His major research focus is on the use of life sciences to amelio- rate global health inequities, with a particular focus on building scientific capacity and increasing innovation in developing countries, in addition to studying how technolo- gies can be rapidly taken “from lab to village.” In 2005 he was awarded the UNESCO Avicenna Prize for Ethics of Science.

Felton Earls, United States of America Felton Earls is a professor of social medicine at Harvard Medical School and profes- sor of human behavior and development at the Harvard School of Public Health. He currently is principal investigator of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods and the ecology of HIV/AIDS and child mental health in Tanzania. Dr. Earls is a member of the Institute of Medicine (USA) and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Political and Social Science. He is a member of the board of directors of Physicians for Human Rights, and a member of the Committee on Human Rights of the U.S. National Academies.

François Jacob, France François Jacob is professor emeritus at the Collège de France and the former direc- tor of the Institut Pasteur in Paris. He is a member of l’Académie Française and the Académie des sciences. He is former long-time chair of the French science academy’s Comité de Défense des Hommes de Sciences. In 1965 Professor Jacob, André Lwoff, and Jacques Monod were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis.” Other awards include Grand Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer, the Lewis Thomas Prize for writ- ing about science, and for his heroic wartime service, Cross of Liberation, Légion d’honneur, and Croix de Guerre.

Belita Koiller, Brazil Belita Koiller is professor of physics at the Instituto de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. She is the first women to be elected a full member to the Brazilian Academy of Sciences in physical sciences. She has been a research fellow of the Brazilian National Research Council since 1985. In 1982 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship and, in 1994, she served as a member of the International Council for Science’s

14 Committee on Capacity Building in Science. She was decorated “Comendador da Ordem Nacional do Mérito Científico” by the presidency of Brazil in 2002. Professor Koiller is a L’Oréal UNESCO 2005 Laureate for Women in Physical Sciences.

Pedro León Azofeifa, Costa Rica Pedro León Azofeifa, a biologist, is director of the Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Costa Rica. In collaboration with Gabriel Macaya and Rodrigo Gámez, he established the first molecular biology lab in Costa Rica, in which he conducted research in genetics and molecular biology for 25 years. His communication skills were recognized by the medical students of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in 2002 with the “Quijote” award for teaching. He serves as scientific advisor to former Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias Sánchez, and was instrumental in establishing the National Park system of Costa Rica. Dr. León is a founding member of the National Academy of Sciences—Costa Rica, foreign associate of the Latin American Academy of Sciences (ACAL), and a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA).

Ida Nicolaisen, Denmark Ida Nicolaisen is a senior research fellow at Copenhagen University. She has con- ducted extensive anthropological research among the pastoral Tuareg of North Africa, the Haddad of Chad, and the Punan Bah of Central Borneo. She is the editor-in-chief of the Carlsberg Foundation Nomad Research. Ida Nicolaisen has been vice-chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Board of the Danish Development Collaboration. She serves on various international boards, including the World Diabetes Foundation, Humanity in Action, Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization, All European Academies’ Ethical Commission, the Chittagong Hill Tract Commission, and the Soeren Kierkegaard Research Centre. She is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

John Polanyi, Canada John Polanyi is professor of chemistry at the University of Toronto. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1960 he was the founding chair of the Canadian Pugwash Group, a position he held until 1978. He has published over 100 articles on peace and human rights and served many years as president of a human rights organiza- tion, the Canadian Committee of Scientists and Scholars. In 1986 John Polanyi, Dudley Herschbach, and Yuan T. Lee were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for their contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes.”

15 Alenka Šelih, Slovenia Alenka Šelih is professor emeritus at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana where she taught criminal law, criminal law for juveniles, victimology, and criminol- ogy. She has lectured at the universities of Brussels, Graz, Cracow, Munich, Novi Sad, Sarajevo, Warsaw, and Zagreb, among others. As author or coauthor, she has published 8 books and over 300 articles, research reports, and reviews in Slovenian, English, French, German, Polish, and Serbo-Croatian. In 1990 she was Fulbright visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Law. Professor Šelih is a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and served as its vice- president from 2005 to 2008.

International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Arjuna Aluwihare, Sri Lanka Dorairajan Balasubramanian, India Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, France Abdallah S. Daar, Oman/Canada Felton Earls, United States of America François Jacob, France Belita Koiller, Brazil Pedro León Azofeifa, Costa Rica Ida Nicolaisen, Denmark John Polanyi, Canada Alenka Šelih, Slovenia

Carol Corillon, Executive Director

16 Photos courtesy of the Nobel Foundation Counterclockwise from top: Fridtjof Nansen (1922); Lord Boyd Orr of Brechin (1949); Linus Carl Pauling (1962) Norman Borlaug (1970); Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (1975); Joseph Rotblat (1995)